Another enchanting evening at the Green Door Store’s Metal Monday Fandango. Lucky me, and lucky everyone else who was there too.

HELLISH FLAVOURS

1st up was a two piece called Hellish Flavours who spent half an hour massaging sludgey riffs in to our ears and bowels. I always appreciate it when a band is clearly enjoying their work, and Hellish Flavours are firmly in that category: Bass man is a gurner and Drum man is a grimacer. I enjoyed their no thrills, beat down laden smash fest, and as it was only their second gig so I have high hopes for them and their maliable faces. According to the drummer man Ben, the two of them just get drunk and play music most of the time so they will probably increase their powers exponentially with any luck.

SLABDRAGGER

2nd act to grace the stage was Slabdragger. You shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover but it is often possible to judge a band by it’s name. Slabdragger are beefy, stonery sludge liberally spread over a moon sized chunk of lead. The first thing the band said when they hit the stage was “We have come down from Croydon to destroy you” – I’m sold, what an entry. I also give the chap with long hair and a MASSIVE beard extra kuodos as I can imagine Croydon is not soft on people with long hair and beards. We are spoilt in Brighton, you can wear what you like and no one bats an eyelid. It’s not the same everywhere else and I think we should remember how lucky we are to be able to sport any facial furniture we desire without welcoming violence our way.

Beardo’s of Croydon I SALUTE YOU. Anyway, they are a frikkin’ great band and you should go see them if you get a chance. They’ll scrape the eyebrows off your face and feed them to a dead dog. BOOM.

DEAD EXISTENCE

3rd and finally but not leastly – Dead Existence – Good solid vibes from these boys, no let up, no let down, no friggin’ about. Reminded me in places of Wolverine Blues era Entombed with some shades of The Abominable Iron Sloth which is never a bad thing. The vocalist had his mike stand off the stage and in the crowd, enticing feelings of a joint effort from the throngs. They were moody enough, but not too moody. Good presence, strong vibes, feisty beefs.